Stockholm Syndrome and AGB: An explanation?
In 1973, there was a bank robbery in the city of Stockholm, Sweden which ended up in a hostage-taking situation. After the hostages were released, they had very surprising attitudes about the bank robbers who had held them captive for about a week. This is now known as “Stockholm Syndrome”, and the concept has been expanded to explain other similar phenomena, including domestic violence. In this vlog, I examine whether the “Stockholm Syndrome” may apply to Deaf people’s lives as well.
Ali said,
August 2, 2008 @ 12:22 am
DrDonG, I agree with you completely! That is just what I have been thinking…. sigh, strange.
I am so happy you did this vlog! We cannot afford this mistake.
Thank you,
Ali
Eddie Runyon said,
August 2, 2008 @ 6:19 am
Excellent points, Don. That is a very real concern (Stockholm Syndrome)…I had not thought of that possibility before, at least not in those terms.
Eddie
Mishkazena said,
August 2, 2008 @ 8:08 am
No
Not everybody have a bad experience with oralism. There is a good portion of deaf community who were successful with oralism, using their residual hearing or proficient lipreading skills. I’ve met quite few oralists content with their communication lifestyle, showing absolutely no interest in learning any manual language. Their experiences are generally very positive compared to those who couldn’t master the fine arts of oralism. So naturally they will defend AGBell and the oral system.
When I share this tidbit with other Deaf people, I am usually met with disbelief and skepticism. I can understand their reactions, however these people do exist.
I am not a supporter of AGBell system for several reasons: its historical high failure rate, deceptive practices to the parents and its deep bias against Deaf people and ASL. However, I won’t go as far as to declare that AGBell system is a complete failure. With the advent of both digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, the early detection of deaf babies and intensive intervention programs, the success rate appears to be higher compared to few decades ago. How much of an improvement remains in serious doubt as AGBell continues to be highly deceptive to the parents, with many former oral kids ending in ASL programs. That also applies to the AVT and C.I. programs.
nacpac said,
August 2, 2008 @ 9:14 am
AGB has changed slightly, but I strongly feel Jay Wyant as AGB’s new president should take the incentive to apologize to the Deaf for the undue pain and suffering among the d/Deaf who grew up in oralism:
The slapping of rulers on kids hands, tying their hands behind chairs, ostracizion among those kids who couldnt learn how to talk as well as other kids, lowering the kids’ self esteem, intentionally keeping them away from the world of the signing Deaf, and many more “crimes” that the former leaders and teachers of oral deaf education have caused.
The Catholic Church has apologized in 1998 for the Inquisition and released secret files to the public. Our counry has apologized for our dark past of slavery and for what we have done to the Native Americans. These are the examples of powerful public apologies made by governments, religious organizations, et cetera.
Despite the fact that my older child has a cochlear implant and attended oral deaf education in the past and still does now only for their summer programs, I strongly believe AGB needs to release a public statement apologizing for the undue pain and emotional suffering inflicted on thousands of deaf children who grew up in oralism of the past.
My Deaf grandfather ran away from home just before the 9th grade. Why? He was seen as an oral failure while his two oher deaf siblings and his deaf mother were doing okay in oralism. Great grandmother was just too embarrassed to sign because oralism tauht her signing was lowly. Theres much more to my grandfather’s story that I probal will share at another time. Point here isthat Grandpa died a bitter man who hated his mother for not allowing him to sign and the physical and emotional pain caused by his oral ed teachers never left him.
Apologize. Then we all can move on.
Oral Deaf Education of today is much different than it was in the past. Why? I think it has to do with the introduction of the cochlear implant. Deaf kids are no longer profoundly deaf. They can somewhat understand spoken language and produce intelligible speech (a generalization here as I want to keep my comment brief here, ha). The other possibiliy is that society itself has evolved over time where spanking a child is frowned upon, and et cetera. Just throwing in some of my assumptions here.
I wonder why there are STILL deaf children just entering their early twenties learning ASL and saying things about how they wished they learned ASL and were introduced to the Deaf commnity as children. They do not appear as angry ex-oralists of yesteryear. In fact, some of them claimed that they had excellent educational upbringing and credited that to Oral Deaf Education. Stockholm Syndrome in the works???
Anyway, I feel Jay Wyant is that kind of guy who would do a public apology for AGB’s dark past. Just imagine the effects of the public apology on the world’s Deaf communities? Let the healing take place and both camps may be able to start to work together.
P.S. To some of the readers who do not know me. My kid is an ASL/CI kid who was schooled in oral deaf education. ASL is a big part of who he is.
cnkatz said,
August 2, 2008 @ 9:21 am
Seeing the title - I was expecting you to answer the question in the title. Click. Ah, you explained the syndrome and did not answer the question. I feel somewhere growling - yet happy to see this kind of blog.
Don, I now am seeing the flowering of your contributions. You asked a question and didnt answer. all right. This post propelled me to type - all right.
The syndrome could help us look at our history and ourselves a bit better. Yes. The more I think, the more insights I arrived at. However, hostage situation is a traumatic near-fatal crisis during a very short period of time. The deaf-hearing saga is as old as time. It’s more complex - I see extreme co-dependency in addition to stockholm syndrome, language identity, mind-sets formed after a lifetime over generations. Audism is much more pervaded inside the mind and soul of the “hearing public”. It is interesting to see when the grassroot deaf people actually finally created a circular social movement (outside of Gallaudet) - AGBell, CI, etc as used as targets and deafhood, colonialism as ammunitions. Of course, it is very natural. Ah, too much “D” is almost not the “general” way to fight (there are ways to be deaf) but the spirit behind the “D” will carry the torch. As a quote somehwere says, ” . . . . we live in exciting times . . . ”
To blog has little to no monetary compensation, and thank you for doing this. Not enough people like us do. To other you, please consider blogging -
Don, go well, think well, type well, sign well, onward -
The Rogue said,
August 2, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Audism + Communication Abused = Stockholm Syndrome? It might be true…
cnkatz said,
August 2, 2008 @ 10:11 am
nacpac, handwave - you said what was in my head. What does that mean - AGB DBC NAD everyone apologize -
Paradigmatic shifting of the mindset - I think we will see AGB do something like what you, nacpac, are hinting.
handwaving here . . .
DrDonG said,
August 2, 2008 @ 10:18 am
MishkaZ –
I did not have a bad experience with Oralism — I never experienced any physical abuse of the sort that many have shared from the past — rulers, tying of hands, being placed alone in dark rooms, etc. Yet, I suffered from its effects — social isolation, including from my own family, delayed socio-emotional growth. It’s questionable whether my academic development was due to my oral upbringing or not, but in any case, like the Oral adults you cited, I can say that the AGB did not “harm” me directly — yet, indirectly, I can see that it (and the societal system that it fosters) did, just as it did have more direct effects on thousands of other Deaf people, as well as our Deaf community — just look at the Deaf vs. Deaf divisions we have going today, including right here on DeafRead.
This is why I supported NACPAC’s earlier comment about a class action suit or request for an apology from AGB. In all honesty, I truly do not expect to see a class action suit happening, because it probably wouldn’t make it past the first hearing by a judge. But an apology by AGB would be a powerful symbol that they recognized our concerns and collective suffering, just as those other institutions she cited have done that. And then maybe we could all start moving on, just as she suggests here. (But as things currently stand, I don’t see an apology by AGB coming out any time in the near future, although I can only hope….)
Katz — Actually, I did answer what I thought, indirectly, through my connection of the Stockholm Syndrome and the AGB’s apologists (I’ve had a hard time finding a good word for this group — “deniers” doesn’t sound quite right either). What I’m saying here is that these people have been saying “AGB didn’t harm me” “AGB is the ‘Good Guys’ and DBC are the real ‘Bad Guys’, “AGB has changed”, just like abused spouses say “He loves me”, “He didn’t really mean to hurt me”, “He can change”, “He’s promised he won’t do it again”. Somehow, even though AGB has harmed them, either directly or indirectly, personally or to other people they know and love, they have made that weird “bond” that makes them seem “blind” to what AGB has done, in the past and present. Make more sense now?
nacpac said,
August 2, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Katz, I enjoy your 1001 Stories in ASL (in the web). In fact, I am going to use excerpts of them or my ASL CL class. Oh, one more thing…. I need to apologize to you for the shaving cream in the early 80’s. Ha ha.
Anyway, I truly do think a class action lawsuit is VERY possible. The pain and suffering by the Deaf/deaf who had negative experience grwing up in Oral Deaf Education need to show evidence that their lies are adversely afected by their oral upbringing. All we need to do is to find a law firm that is willing to take on the ex-oralists’ case. Maybe Teresa (last name?????) of NY who is currently working on a class action suit against Advanced Bionics? She is a signing Deaf lawyer who grew up oral. With the publicity from a class action lawsuit, AGB may be pushed forward to make a public apology.
If we vloggers/bloggers/readers bring this idea up again and again, something may manifest in the near future to our satisfaction.
I am not against AGB. I used their services in the past and they were extremely helpful. It is just the system giant that needs to be shaken up for the sake of healing to occur.
Mishkazena said,
August 2, 2008 @ 12:17 pm
Don, I actually propose the idea of a class action lawsuit last summer. So many parents were lied about the true success of oralism, resulting in serious harm of deaf children, not just the physical and psychological abuses, but also language and communication deprivation, affecting the whole well-being of the deaf children and adults. That’s why we see so much pain and anger among the oral survivors. The oral education system needs to be held accountable for their actions. It’s not 100 years ago. It could be as recent as ten or twenty years ago to this day as they are still promoting deceptive practice, hiding true data on success of aural comprehension and sweeping under the carpet those who didn’t fare well.
When I referred to the successful oralists, I didn’t mean you or me. I mean people who truly feel they don’t miss anything, using residual hearing and lipreading. They didn’t feel socially deprived. Rachel is one of them, except that she is the younger generation using c.i. The people I knew were prior to the C.I. days and they were able to assimilate successfully with the hearing community. In my opinion, they do not have Stockholm Syndrome at all. For them, oralism appears to be the right fit. I still feel it is a small minority.
cnkatz said,
August 2, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
MZ, what you are arguing for, I see . . .
contemplation (possibly a few end up in the court system) of collective class action law suit. That is something we could think about or is already going on -
yes yes, entering the temple of audism and destroy it down with AGB and NAD people TOGETHER.
with the new vanguard of using sign languages (bilingualism) now proven by scientists as one of the most remarkable set of human languages on earth which works not only on deaf but hearing - all children.
The power of being Deaf (collectively speaking) will carry the torch forward leading CIRCLES of hearing and deaf people being involved with a geninuely grassroot “new” social movement.
The circles together look at the deaf children worldwide - the “AGB” or Volt people will bow their heads and acknowledge - they can’t shirk away this time. DBC will proclaim mistakes made, forgive, and move on -
- for it is the deaf child, our deaf children, of the future we are fighting for
- for the whole deafchild in us all -
Thanks MZ for that thread of thought and inspiration -
EG, h-on-h
Dianrez said,
August 2, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
MZ, come to think of it, I have wondered about those “successful” people of the oral and CI generations…at their motives, personalities and reasons for not feeling deprived.
Perhaps they had enough hearing and supportive people around themeselves to feel this way, and combined with personalties that adapt well to a partially isolated situation, do feel that they have found their place in society.
I will be interested in meeting people who have lived both ways…who have learned to mix in an ASL community who have grown up oral..and chose to live in the hearing community totally with no involvement either with ASL or other deaf people. They must exist, although everybody I know who made the transition never went back.
I also will be curious to know what emotional distress and accommodations they have made in this journey, and what they wish happened if they had to do it over again.
‘
Mishkazena said,
August 2, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
Dianrez, I am curious, too. If I ever meet these people again, which I seriously doubt as they are living in a different state, I will ask them questions.
I am aware of some around here in DC. How much residual hearing do they really have? I don’t know. Is it the bias against ASL and Deaf people that they refuse to learn ASL and Deaf Community? Or they just find the chasm between the two different communities too wide? Good questions.
RLM said,
August 2, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
Excellent analogy of deaf people being webbed to the AGBell. Althought, they experienced past
abuses thru ideology and misdirected beliefs and still feel attached or indebted to this organization
in many ways.
People in general, already knew what the famous sociological phrase - “Stockholm Syndrome” without you wasting time to summarize on it. I am kinda disappointed for not seeing more of your application to
the deaf version of AGBell.
Many ex-oralists keep saying “I despise what AGBell done to me and my family”, but somewhat
told me and other people to leave the AGBell all alone for the sake of peace.
AGBell organization keep with the attempt of normalizing us, deaf people to fit the description of human normalization in the 21th Century.
It’s time for people to smell the coffee and wake up what the AGBell really done to everyone!
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
Dennis said,
August 2, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
Good vlog. I wonder if there is any cureable for “Stockholm Syndrome”?
DrDonG said,
August 2, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
Dennis — the only cure I know is helping people to see that their strange, twisted bond is not healthy for them and not deserved for the person who abused them.
Mishkazena said,
August 2, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
Don… sometimes people refuses to be cured. It’s an unique syndrome… very powerful. How many domestic abuse victims were unable to leave and few eventually paid with their lives? How many cops dread answering to domestic violence calls due to the fact sometimes the viictims even turn against the police.
Stockholm syndrome is a survivial tactic to help the victims cope. Really fascinating syndrome.
Thinking..
Do I know any oralists who don’t do so well defend AGBell system? I think not really. Most expressed regrets that they weren’t permitted to learn sign language earlier, but none defended AGBell system blindly. Do you know some, Don?
Mishkazena said,
August 2, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
correction: refuses is a wrong word… too scarred would be a better term.
DrDonG said,
August 2, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
MZ –
I don’t personally. But, you know, even those oralists who say they’re fine as oral Deaf will usually admit it’s TOUGH trying to keep up that lifestyle. So, I would say that even for those people, there must be some sort of harm, although it may be buried somewhere. Just my suspicion.
Thinking back to when I was among that number, I thought I was “fine”, even though there were signs all along that I was not, such as my bouts of frustration at trying to fit in at family events, my preference for going off to another room to read instead of trying to lipread everything that was going on, etc.